Secret Sales acquires Spain’s Dreivip.com

Off-price specialist Secret Sales — the UK-based retailer that claims it’s “solving the problem of excess inventory” — has acquired Spanish peer Dreivip.com as it continues its expansion into mainland Europe.

Dreivip is one of Spain’s most established discount retailers and its acquisition marks the “start of an aggressive merger and acquisition (M&A) strategy”. It also follows Secret Sales’ recent expansion into the Netherlands and Belgium, making this the third European territory for the business. 

Acquiring the established brand, which has 2.7 million members in Spain, “will provide brands and retailers with immediate access to a vast pool of new customers actively seeking premium products at great prices”.

It will continue to trade as normal until a new co-branded site goes live next month featuring around 450 labels. A further 70 Spanish brands and retailers are in “advanced-stage conversations, all of whom are excited about the new proposition and opportunity to transform the way they handle non-full-price inventory”.

Secret Sales  aims to be a disruptor in the discount/excess inventory sector and offers a direct-to-consumer digital channel “allowing brands and retailers to sell non-full-price stock in a way that drives growth and profitability, maintains brand equity and, in an industry-first, identifies new customers for full-price targeting in a fully GDPR-compliant way”.  

This latest acquisition means it should end full-year 2023 with growth of 150% across Europe. Inventory growth has also been “phenomenally strong” at 45% year to date and it’s anticipated to be up more than 100% following the launch. That would mean inventory value “well in excess of £3 billion” connected to the platform.  

The company saw 70% like-for-like sales growth last year and with this year’s predicted growth added on, it makes it one of Europe’s fastest-growing fashion platforms. 

Its acquisition of the Spanish firm follows follows it raising $10m in Series B funding from a group of “retail heavyweight investors” in May to support the company’s international growth strategy. 

CEO Chris Griffin said: “Brands are increasingly turning to us when they want off-price to be on-brand and profitable. Despite the difficult retail climate, we are seeing significant growth, and the expansion into Spain is just the start of a wider pan-European strategy to ensure that more brands and retailers get to experience the unique benefits of our platform.”